In many countries, the automobile has become the most common method of transportation. Most automobiles are manufactured primarily of metal, and the metal is painted to protect it from oxidation and other influences detrimental to the finish. Automobile surface finish degradation may be caused by sun rays, bird droppings, tree sap and pollens, snow and ice, frost, etc.
One way to prevent damage to the surface finish of an automobile is to store the car in a garage when it is not being used. Unfortunately, there are many more cars than garages, so this solution leaves many cars outdoors.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,805,654 issued in 1989 to Kuo-Hsin-Wang provides an umbrella-type sun shield for automobiles. The sun shield has a collapsible framework for supporting a flexible cloth. The framework has at least three legs radially and isometrically extended from the framework. In the free end of each leg, there is a sucker adapted to attach to the roof of an automobile. Therefore, the shield can be mounted above an automobile to shade it from the unpleasant and damaging effects of the sun's rays, and it can be detached from the roof of the automobile and folded into the trunk of the automobile.
This device has a complicated construction and can be blown out from the roof of the vehicle by gusts of winds. The installation and removal of the device requires opening and closing of the umbrella-type mechanism. If the metal spikes of the shield are bent, e.g., by the wind gusts, the damage becomes irreversible and the device has to be discarded.
Tung-Chow was granted U.S. Pat. No. 4,834,446 issued in 1989 for a road vehicle flexible cover, which is stored in a box in the vehicle trunk. While this design provided for motorized retraction of the cover, its storage box occupied a substantial amount of the trunk floor space, right in the center part of the trunk floor. In addition, this design requires that the trunk be opened and closed every time the cover is deployed or stored. The '446 design is also necessarily complex because it uses an electric motor with an electrical wire running to the dash of the vehicle. The protective canvas comprises a folded bundle, which, after unwinding from the storage box, has to be unfolded for covering the top and sides of the vehicle. Furthermore, the cover of this type does not provide a space between the cover and the vehicle body so that the cover of this type does not protect the vehicle from heating.
One variant of the vehicle cover solution is the self-storing vehicle cover. This type of cover is typically provided in a container, which may be used to store the cover. When the cover is to be used, the cover is removed from the container, and when the cover is to be stored, it is returned to the container. A number of self-storing vehicle covers have been patented, but they all suffer from various problems.
For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,516,181 granted to Thompson in 1996 discloses a roll-up vehicle cover. This cover could be rolled up around a cylinder, which could then be stored in the vehicle's trunk. While this design is provided for a storable cover, it is inconvenient and cumbersome to use, because after use, the cover has to be removed from the vehicle roof, manually rolled up, the bundle carried to the trunk of the vehicle, the trunk opened, the bundle placed inside, and the trunk closed. Deployment of this cover requires all these steps to be performed, but in the reverse order. Since in a covered position of the vehicle very small air spaces are formed between the cover and the upper surfaces of the vehicle body, the air in these spaces is quickly heated and functions as a medium for transfer of heat from cover to the vehicle.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,276,381 issued in 2001 to P. O'Brein discloses a vehicle cover that may be stored in a convenient place such as the car trunk, then taken out and unfolded, and then installed on the vehicle. The cover is made of a fabric or textile such as canvas. When the vehicle must be used, the cover is removed, allowed to dry (if necessary), folded up, and stored. One problem associated with this design is inconvenience: it takes time to fold and unfold, and store, the vehicle cover. Furthermore, if the vehicle is located in a country with a very hot climate, under the effect of direct sun rays which are substantially perpendicular to the upper surface of the cover, at the noon time the interior of the vehicle covered with the protective cover of the type disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,276,381 may be heated to a very high temperature due to a green-house effect caused by the cover. Since the entire body of the vehicle is covered from all sides, the spaces between the vehicle and the cover are not ventilated.
Another way to help preserve the finish on an automobile or other vehicle is to cover the vehicle with a vehicle cover when it is not in use. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,992,053 issued in 1976 to L. D. Hrytzak, et al. discloses a sun shield for automobiles that comprises a strip of screening material, which is stored on a roller within a cylindrical container attached to the automobile. When in use, the material is drawn out of the container through a slit therein, and is pulled over the automobile and attached at its free end to the automobile so that the roof is shielded. The screening material is kept spaced from the automobile bodywork by means of legs, which fold up when the sun shield is stored. A disadvantage of this device is that for forming a ventilated space between the cover material and the surface of the vehicle body, the device requires the use of an additional structure in the form of foldable legs, which has to be permanently stored in the vehicle's trunk.